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Story originally printed in the La Crosse Tribune or online at www.lacrossetribune.com

Published - Thursday, January 17, 2008

UW-L women soar past Pioneers

By KIRK BEY | La Crosse Tribune

There was no long bus ride back to the UW-La Crosse campus in the dead of night to dread. No having to choose between pizza or submarine sandwiches for a postgame meal.

Amanda Waldvogel knew Wednesday she was going to be in her own locker room, play on a court she’s come to know and like and even get home at a decent hour to boot.

Needless to say, Waldvogel, a reserve junior guard for the UW-L women’s basketball team, was happy. Judging by the Eagles’ 78-59 WIAC victory over UW-Platteville in front of a Mitchell Hall crowd of 140, her teammates were, too.

UW-L (7-8, 2-4) had gone 39 days between home dates. In that time, the Eagles played five road games, including two in Florida in late December.

Waldvogel doesn’t object to a road trip every now and again; it comes with being a college basketball player. But ...

“It seems like we’ve been away forever,” said Waldvogel (10 points), one of four UW-L players to score in double figures. “It’s nice to be back on our home court.”

The Eagles showed they appreciated their homecoming by playing what UW-L coach Lois Heeren called one of their better first halves of the season.

UW-L sank eight of its first 10 field-goal attempts en route to building a 16-2 lead by the 15-minute, 19-second mark. The Eagles forced Platteville (9-7, 3-4) into 20 turnovers, and they scored 23 points off the Pioneers’ miscues en route to taking a 44-23 halftime lead.

Heeren saw the Eagles take a 29-6 first half lead against UW-Stout last Saturday, only to eventually lose 71-70. She was please she didn’t see her team get rattled by what was a difficult loss.

“Our kids played hard against Stout. It was nice to see them match that intensity tonight,” Heeren said.

Considering six of UW-L’s last 10 regular-season games are at Mitchell Hall, including Saturday’s contest against UW-Oshkosh, junior forward Mackenzie Hunter believes the Eagles will be energized for the stretch run.

“Being at home does make a difference,” said Hunter, who led the Eagles with 11 points. “It helps not having to sit on a bus before we play.”

Kirk Bey can be reached at (608) 791-8414, or at kbey@lacrossetribune.com

UW-La Crosse 78,

UW-Platteville 59

PLATTEVILLE (9-7, 3-4)

Stotmeister 1-6 2-2 4, Grantman 3-11 0-1 8, Guernsey 1-7 0-0 2, Wubben 5-10 6-6 16, Schneider 3-7 3-4 10, Wolf 0-0 2-2 2, Enloe 0-1 0-0 0, Droeszler 3-6 0-0 8, Vamstad 0-5 0-0 0, Nemitz 0-5 0-0 0, Callahan 4-6 0-0 9. Totals 20-64 13-15 59.

UW-L (7-8, 2-4)

Wagner 4-5 0-0 8, Hunter 4-11 2-4 11, Stevens 3-9 1-2 7, Churchill 4-6 2-2 10, Wahl 3-5 3-6 9, Kramschuster 0-0 2-2 2, Larson 1-1 0-0 3, Waldvogel 3-7 2-2 10, Halat 1-4 2-3 4, Litrenta 0-0 0-0 0, H. Lang 1-1 0-0 2, Petersen 0-1 0-0 0, Spaude 0-0 0-0 0, Marjanovic 0-0 2-2 2, M. Lang 4-6 2-2 10, Punzel 0-0 0-0 0, McGinnity 0-0 0-0 0. Totals

Halftime—UW-L 44, Platteville 23. 3-Point Goals—Platteville 6-25 (Grantman 2-7, Droeszler 2-4, Schneider 1-2, Callahan 1-1, Nemitz 0-5, Guernsey 0-2, Stotmeister 0-2, Vamstad 0-2), UW-L 4-7 (Waldvogel 2-3, Hunter 1-1, Larson 1-1, Stevens 0-2). Rebounds—Platteville 43 (Wubben, TEAM 8), UW-L 34 (TEAM 7). Assists—Platteville 11 (Guernsey, Wubben 3), UW-L 21 (Halat 4). Total fouls—Platteville 20, UW-L 20. Fouled out—Churchill, Wubben. Turnovers—Platteville 29, UW-L 21. A—140.